Band-like transport in small-molecule thin films toward high mobility and ultrahigh detectivity phototransistor arrays

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 12 - 8
• Main Authors: Ji, Deyang, Li, Tao, Liu, Jie, Amirjalayer, Saeed, Zhong, Mianzeng, Zhang, Zhao-Yang, Huang, Xianhui, Wei, Zhongming, Dong, Huanli, Hu, Wenping, Fuchs, Harald
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.01.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1005/1007; 639/638/298/398; Charge transport; Current carriers; Dark current; Electronics industry; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mobility; multidisciplinary; Optoelectronics; Organic semiconductors; Photosensitivity; Phototransistors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal detectors; Silicon; State of the art; Thin films; Vacuum
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07943-y

With the fast development of organic electronics, organic semiconductors have been extensively studied for various optoelectronic applications, among which organic phototransistors recently emerged as one of the most promising light signal detectors. However, it is still a big challenge to endow organic phototransistors with both high mobility and high light-sensitivity because the low mobility of most organic photoresponsive materials limits the efficiency of transporting and collecting charge carriers. We herein report band-like charge transport in vacuum-deposited small-molecule thin films for organic phototransistor arrays which can be operated at very low dark currents (~10 −12  A). Both high mobility and excellent optical figures of merit including photosensitivity, photoresponsivity and detectivity are achieved, wherein, unprecedentedly, a detectivity greater than 10 17  cm Hz 1/2  W −1 is obtained. All these key parameters are superior to state-of-the-art organic phototransistors, implying a great potential in optoelectronic applications. The potential of organic phototransistors to surpass silicon-based devices is limited by the low carrier mobility of organic photoresponsive materials. Here, Ji et al. report high performance organic phototransistors featuring vacuum-deposited small-molecule films with band-like charge transport.